


Let's face all our fears and come out of the shades

by cutebutpsyco



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bittersweet, Christine Palmer is a gift and does the best presents ever, Christine does the best gifts, Established Relationship, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Fluff, Insecure Stephen, M/M, Tony Stark is a ray of sunshine, and loves his husband so much, and she loves her bestfriend and his husband, i don't know how to tag things, i think, supremefamily hinted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-24 00:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15618180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutebutpsyco/pseuds/cutebutpsyco
Summary: “Again, I highly doubt whoever created it named it Cloakie, but if this helps you all to sleep at night,” And Cloaki… The Cloak straight smacked Stephen’s ass. “And here we go…”“I thought Cloakie assaulted only Stark’s ass,” Christine had tears at the corners of her eyes because of her laughing. “Well, I mean, not that I can’t relate.”





	Let's face all our fears and come out of the shades

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know how I started to write this, I shared a headcanon on the ironstrange discord server, and then this happened. I blame this on the wonderful people on the server.  
> I have just an explanation for this, to be honest: I love to write Christine because she is a ray of sunshine. I have a lot of headcanons about her so wait for Doctor Palmer guest-starring more of my fics. On a side note: no, I won't stop to put her and Bruce as minor relationship anytime soon, I'm so sorry they just got under my skin.  
> Enjoy this pseudo-fluff fic before I drop the Angst-bomb. 
> 
> As always, nothing belongs to me. Title from 'Something Human' by Muse. Not beta-read.

Stephen stared at his reflexion in the full body mirror in front of him, in his bedroom at the Sanctum. The Cloak - _You really like when that dumbass of my fiancé calls you Cloakie, don't you?_ \- was looking at him, it’s helm raised as if it was giving him his thumb ups. No, ok, that was crazy, wasn’t it? But what wasn’t? He was going to be a wedded man at the end of the day, he, Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange, the person that went straight from ‘I don’t need romances’ to ‘There’s no one who can keep up with me, so what’s the point in even try?’, married. 

To the best man he had ever known. A man who not only could keep up with him but could easily outsmart him. Not let him know that was better, though. Tony Stark, the love of his life, one of the three persons he gave a shit about, was going to be his husband that very same day, the other two being Wong and Christine.  
Who was looking at him, smiling softly. 

“‘Stine, I didn’t hear you coming, sorry.” He said, flashing her a small apologetic smile. The woman shook her head, but her expression was soft, happy. 

“Don’t mind me, I just wanted to check on you, and Wong told me you are too a gentleman to throw something at me. So your friend sent me to be sure that everything is fine,” She moved some step inside the room and took something out from her handbag. Stephen knew what there was inside the black velvet box she was holding. It was one of his clocks, one of his favourite ones, the last he sold. He looked dumb for an instant before the Cloak flew to wrap Christine in a weird hug. “Hey, Cloakie!” She said.

“No, please, not you too,” Stephen would roll his eyes in another dimension sooner or later. 

“Is its name, Steph.”

“Again, I highly doubt whoever created it named it Cloakie, but if this helps you all to sleep at night,” And Cloaki… The Cloak straight smacked Stephen’s ass. “And here we go…”

“I thought Cloakie assaulted only Stark’s ass,” Christine had tears at the corners of her eyes because of her laughing. “Well, I mean, not that I can’t relate.”

Stephen looked at her while she high-fived the Cloak. He was glad to see Christine this happy, and the Sorcerer knew it was also thanks to Banner. He would never be grateful enough to Bruce: Christine never looked so happy when they were together. He was also glad to have her again in his life. They worked better as friends. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“I am your best woman,” She reminded him. “And I remember how you are when you’re left alone under stress. We don’t want you to yell at Tony’s face when you’ll be on the altar.” 

He could tell her he wasn’t nervous, but the truth was that he couldn’t lie to himself and he was. It was clear by now that he didn’t deserve Tony. Tony fucking Stark could do so much better than a broke Sorcerer with shaking hands and nothing to offer but pain and nightmares. “Steph, where are you?” 

“Sorry, I was…” He turned to look at his friend. Christine was still holding the box but now it was open, and she was probably telling him about the watch inside of it. The Rolex shone under the warm light in the Sanctum. 

“Zoning out,” She took his hand and squeezed it lightly. “Stephen, listen to me, it’s good if you are nervous. Don’t even try to deny you are. It’s written all over your face.”

Stephen nodded and went with his eyes back on the wristwatch. “What is this?”

“Congrats Doc,” She simply said, turning the object and letting him see the dedication softly carved into the back of it. “I may or may not have brought it back the exact moment you decided to be a total ass and refuse every kind of help from me, or everyone else.” 

Stephen hated to show others his own emotions, so he simply hugged Christine briefly before turning to gave his attention to his father’s words on the gold plate. It was the gift his parents gave him for his graduation, shortly before his mother died. He had never been so close to objects, but the one he was holding in his hands was a dear memory for him. 

“Thank you,” He whispered. 

“Do you mind…?” Stephen smiled softly letting Christine secure it to his wrist. He would try to do it by himself, but he couldn’t risk breaking the watch just because of his pride. “Let’s go, pretty boy, you have a billionaire to marry.”

She said, after having given Stephen his time to fix the last details, and to the Cloak to turning into a tie. 

\--

The ceremony went smooth, not that Stephen remembered what happened after that Tony pronounced his heart tearing vows. Everything he knew or better hoped, was that the man he loved wasn’t going to leave him alone any time soon. 

“God baby, you’re beautiful, should wear a suit more frequently,” His husband whispered in his ear, the moment they succeeded in backing off from everyone’s attention. Apparently, the catering served good enough food to make everyone forgot about the new-wedded couple. And no, Stephen wasn’t complaining at all. If he had to speak with another US Army’s general again, he was probably going to portal Tony and himself on a god forgotten island in the middle of the Pacific. He always loved attention, though not when he was with Tony. 

“I’d look better without clothes,” He teased back. “And so would you.” 

Tony laughed and rose his whiskey brown eyes on Stephen's face, trapping his lips in a passionate kiss. Only to be interrupted a moment later.

“Ewww, Mr Dad, gross!” Peter all but mocked them, passing by to reach the buffet table. 

“Does he just called you Mr Dad?” Stephen asked.

“Yeah, he started to do it when I proposed, he calls you Doctor Dad when you aren’t around,” Tony’s tone was fond, and all Stephen could do was laugh again. “I don’t mind even more but if you want him to stop just…”

Stephen shook his head. He and the kid were close, and Stephen didn’t really mind of being called dad. It somehow meant that the kid was looking after him. And if Tony was his other model, he must be very proud of being another father figure for the Spiderling. “I like the sound of it.”

“Guys, I’m so sorry to spoil this moment,” Christine said, a moment later. She looked really worried, but a smile from Stephen was enough to ease her. “I just wanted you to have this before, you know, everything goes completely insane. It’s not even the real gift, but still.”

And she handled Stephen another black box. This one was smaller than the one with the clock he received back at the Sanctum. “Stine you didn’t have to…”

“No shit, Sherlock,” God no, not another Sherlock Holmes reference, not from her who, according to Peter looked like Irene Adler from the movies. She had no rights to make Sherlock jokes. “I’m really happy for you both, and Tony, you hurt him, and you are a dead man, I don’t care if you are Iron Man, I’ll kill you.” She threatened him. Anyway, the smile she addressed to the billionaire was enough for Stephen to understand that she didn't believe Tony capable of hurting him. 

As Christine predicted, everything went crazy shortly after that a very drunk Nat threw herself into the pool, and Sam took it as a clue for following her. Quill decided that was his call to lose any resemblance of dignity and blasting one of Tony’s hard rock playlists, thank you so much Friday, in the building turning it into a fucking disco club. 

After that, nobody understood what was going on for real. T'Challa, yelling from a corner to the room to the opposite one, proposed to M'Baku, with a: “We should surely join our kingdoms, babe!” 

“Fucking finally!” Someone yelled, probably Shuri. 

The last thing Stephen knew was that Wong and Rhodey were trying to drag him and Tony in the pool with the help of Thor who threatened to bring them bridal style in the water if they didn’t lift their asses from the chairs. 

By now, anyone who wasn’t their closest friends long went so they took the call for disappearing after having been pushed into the pool by Rhodey and Barnes for the fourth time or so. 

Stephen was tipsy himself when he succeeded to drag his body out of the pool without being shoved in it again. He wasn’t used to the alcohol, not more by the way, since almost gave up to all his horrible habits, but it was his wedding, and neither Wong was judging him so, he guessed, he deserved a night off. Tony held his hand all the way back to their table. 

“Christine’s gift, we should see what it is before she passes out,” He whispered, against Tony’s lips. “She had always been the worse drinker ever.”

“I think we are late for that, I saw her and Bruce before, and she was either sleeping in his lap or giving him a blowjob. And, well, I’m not judging a book from the cover, but she doesn’t me that kind of vibes.”

Stephen muffled a laugh in his hand and just opened the box he had previously protected with a spell that prevented its content to be ruined by water. Inside of it, there were two identical keys and, written on a business card, an address. And address that Stephen knew very well because it was his old one. 

“Babe, is everything ok?” Tony asked him, and now he sounded, at least at Stephen’s ears, mildly worried. 

“Yeah, it's just... “ He looked at the back of the business card and saw what Christine scribbled on it: _The watch isn’t the only thing I bought, back in the day. You always worked hard in order to obtain everything you wanted to and to become the person you wanted to be. How everything had been ripped away from you is unfair. You deserve your happiness. I love you, CP._  
He had to fight against tears which threatened to spill from his eyes before remembering Tony was still waiting for an answer. “She bought my attic in Manhattan. These are the keys and… She’s the best friend someone can hope for. And I’m the luckiest man on earth. I’m married to a wonderful, brave, intelligent man, and my best friends are the sweeter and smarter woman I’ve ever met and a wit and ironic sorcerer who saved my ass more than once and… Fuck I don’t deserve any of this.” 

“You are fucking drunk, love: you must be because you are being nice with people,” Tony smirked at him, and Stephen shook his head.

“I’m tipsy, but I’m also being honest,” Stephen knew he had the stupidest smile plastered all over his face. “Want you to go there and see it?”

Tony looked at their guests. Who wasn't passed out was too drunk to pay attention to their surroundings. “This sounds a good plan to me.”

\--

They moved to the Tower because it was the most logical place where to live considering that it had all the commodities they could ask for -and Tony didn’t want to leave Friday and his bots alone- but Christine’s gift turned out to be more useful than she had originally planned, probably. 

Stephen was looking at his husband through the glass doors of one of the conference rooms in the Tower. It wasn't clear how the sorcerer was implied in the Avengers' matters considering that he wasn't an Avenger in the first place. Though being married to Tony meant that he knew about everything and helped them more than once.  
That day, the team was discussing how the UN chose the missions in which the Avengers were required. Nobody was happy with the current system but when Tony suggested that he and Nat could take care of that by their own everyone refused it, and that meant that Stark was going to kill someone before the end of the day. The only thing to stop him from jump at Rogers's throat being Stephen's texts. 

 

Tony: I’m going to punch him in the face, where r u?

Stephen: Literally walking in the aisle. I can see you tensing your shoulders rn, what’s wrong?

Tony: Rogers

Stephen: Care to elaborate? 

Tony: Later. Attic?

Stephen: Can you sneak out?

Tony: I can call a break, and never show again. 

Stephen: Sounds like we have a plan. 

 

Tony called for a break, and yes, everyone heard when Nat half screamed: “After you're married, you should stop to act as horny teenagers, however, say hello to your husband from me!”

Which, for the record, just led to Tony yelling at Stephen: “Nat says hi!” Before the sorcerer portaled the both of them to the attic.

It was just he remembered - only less depressing messed and more ‘I want to rip the clothes off from my husband’s body’ messed - including the enormous piano in the middle of the living room. Something he couldn’t enjoy more and was almost painful to look at. But Stephen knew how much it did cost and didn’t want to seem ungrateful to Christine. 

He noticed Tony saw the piano, well, not seeing it was hardly possible but still, but he said nothing so far, mostly because they were always too busy in stripping themselves or the other. 

“So, do you play?” He asked, letting his fingers run on the keys. 

“Used to,” Stephen said, lowering his glance and that was enough for Tony to understand, Strange knew it. Then the genius moved some steps closer to him and took his hand between his owns. 

“Do you trust me?” It was a whisper, and Stephen nodded. It wasn’t a question Tony had to ask him. If there was a person whom Stephen would trust with his own life, that person was Tony, despite both of them having trusting problems rooted too deep to just ignore them. 

“Always,” Strange said a moment later, seeing Tony’s eyes lighting up at the confession. The man guided him through the piano and both seat on the bench, Tony’s hands still wrapped around Stephen’s ones. 

“Ok, I just remember how to play Ode to Joy,” Tony confessed. It passed too long since he last played something at the piano, but no, he wasn’t going there with his mind. “I suppose Beethoven will go.”

He let go of Stephen’s hands and started to play the symphony. Maria’s image started to form in his mind, but it wasn’t the one full of regrets for the mother he hadn’t be able to save. It was a soft memory at the back of his mind. A moment later, he heard the same melody just lower and more shaking coming from his side.

Stephen closed his eyes, trying to readjust to the feeling of playing an instrument and not focusing on his shaking, useless, hands. He was no longer thinking about which keys he had to push, just letting the muscle memory do its job. The sorcerer didn’t even realize that Tony stopped to play until he lifted his own hands from the piano. 

“When did you…?”

“Stopped?” Tony asked, flashing him one of his press smiles. “After a couple of minutes after you started to play.” 

Stephen nodded. He didn’t go through all the symphony, but he didn’t even hear it turning into the mess he thought it would if he ever touched a piano again in his life. 

“I know that light in your eyes,” Tony whispered, lingering closer to Stephen. One of Tony’s hands was back on Stephen’s left one. “You should believe more in what these can do.”

Stephen rose his eyes on his husband. He knew he was right, he knew that his hands weren’t so useless, but it was harder and harder to remember that. Every time some everyday task looked too hard for him, every time he tried to button his shirt and had Cloakie help him, everytime he spill some water or coffee from the glass, he forgot about that his broken hands were capable of beautiful things.  
Stephen’s steel blue eyes ran on the sunset out of the big window in front of him which was making the city look like if it was out of a Renaissance artist palette. He had missed his house, more than he would ever admit. 

He stood and walked through the enormous window wall from which most of the light in the attic entered, and he looked at the feeble reflection of himself. Tony was approaching at his back, circling his waist with his arm. Tony’s head was on his shoulder, his lips on the sorcerer’s neck. 

“I won’t be able to do anything of what I did in the past, Tony,” He said, in a whisper. He almost never spoke about his hands, not with strangers, not even with his friends. Only Tony, sometimes, was allowed to know how much they bothered him. He knew Christine suspected, and Wong saw his frustration even if he said nothing, but telling them meant to show them his weaknesses and he wasn’t ready to do that. “I… I have to use magic to stabilize them even for the simpler tasks.”

“No,” Tony said, softly. “Do I have to tell you all the wonderful thing you can do without using your magic? I have them listed, and Friday can read them for your lazy ass.” 

“Tony you don’t have to make me feel…”

“Yes, I have, it was in my vows, and I really meant it,” He pushed back just what was necessary to look at Stephen in the eyes. “It’s us, you and me, taking care of each other. Which also means call out the other when he is saying bullshits!”

Stephen chuckled, he couldn’t keep a straight face, not at that moment, not when a feeling warmer than the sunset in front of them was rising in his chest. He peeked a kiss against Tony’s nose. “I love you.”

“Love you too, honey,” Tony replied. And Stephen knew that he meant it, it didn’t matter how insecure he was, how insecure he would always be about his hands. It didn't even matter how he still couldnìt believe that someone cared about him when he wasn’t able to accomplish the simpler tasks. A part of him just knew that Tony loved him. 

And Stephen would love him ‘till the end of the times.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if I missed something during the editing and remember that, as always, kudos and comments are always rewarded with my undying love. 
> 
> PSA: requests for fic, prompts and headcanons are open on my [Tumblr](http://staryjoy.tumblr.com/). Send an ask, and I'll write whatever you want.


End file.
